The federal government cancels around $ 500 million in vaccine development projects that use mRNA technology, the Secretary of Health and Social Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Tuesday.
The 22 projects now completed were funded through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or Barda. Most of the projects that were canceled concerned the vaccines that fight against COVID-19 or the flu, said Kennedy.
They include proposals from Pfizer, Sanofi Pasteur and other drug manufacturers who have been rejected or canceled, with A price now closed to Modern To develop a bird flu vaccine, according to an HHS declaration. The projects have been examined and canceled in recent weeks, said Kennedy.
A Moderna spokesperson told CBS News that the company H5N1 (Bird flu) contract had been canceled in May and that he was not aware of any new cancellation of Barda.
Kennedy supervised the move as part of a research step on mRNA vaccines. These types of vaccines use messenger RNA, or mRNA, to encourage the body to make proteins that induce the production of antibodies to protect itself from infection. The approach has aroused more interest from the COVID-19 pandemic, when the mRNA vaccines of Pfizer and Moderna were found in safety and efficient against the coronavirus. Public health officials attribute the rapid development of vaccines with save millions of lives.
However, Kennedy said: “HHS has determined that mRNA technology has more risks than the benefits for these respiratory viruses”.
He supported Corona Virus For example. “Only one mutation can make mRNA vaccines ineffective,” said Kennedy.
Experts in the leading infections have criticized the decision and said it would leave the Americans vulnerable.
Dr. Paul Offer, virologist and expert in vaccination at the Philadelphia children’s hospital, said Kennedy had once again made a decision, not on scientific evidence that put this country at useless risks. “
The epidemiologist, Dr. Michael Osterholm, called him “one of the worst decisions that I have seen in 50 years of work to prepare for public health”.
“If an influenza pandemic struck us tomorrow, the global capacity for manufacturing flu vaccines using the standard virus cultivation method in chicken eggs would only produce enough vaccine in 18 months to vaccinate a single quarter of the world,” he told CBS News. “We desperately need vaccination technology where we could do enough vaccination for the world in a year.”
Many experts say that a major advantage of mRNA vaccines is that they can be developed, manufactured and changed quickly, allowing drug manufacturers and public health managers to quickly respond to new viruses and mutant viruses such as flu.
In 2020, the first Trump administration financed the development of vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19, which were developed much faster than traditional vaccines.
“No other nation has equaled what America has achieved during the pandemic,” DBS News Dr. Luciana Borio, former director of medical and biodefense, told CBS. “We have launched and delivered vital mRNA vaccines at an unprecedented speed. It is a historical achievement that we should celebrate. Apply to obsolete technologies to counter a future influenza pandemic is a serious error.”
Kennedy has a long history of rack on vaccines. Since he joined the Trump administration, he has licensed members a panel of experts who made vaccine recommendations and announced the Deletion of a recommendation For healthy children and pregnant women, to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Always said children can get the vaccine And that it is safe and beneficial for pregnant women.
Kennedy said on Tuesday that HHS was moving funding now committed to “safer and wider vaccine platforms that remain effective even if viruses mutate”.
“Let me be absolutely clear: HHS supports safe and effective vaccines for each American who wants them,” said the secretary of health.
Dr Céline Gounder and
contributed to this report.
